Friday, May 9, 2008

Weekend Video - The Raveonettes

The Raveonettes are a Danish rock duo whose music is characterized by two-part vocal harmonies inspired by early American pop coupled with hard-edged, distortion overlaid, electric guitar. Their songs juxtapose the structural simplicity of 50s and 60s rock with an intense blown-out sound, driving beats, and dark lyrical content similar to The Velvet Underground. "We are not scared of being blunt about what the references are in our music," says vocalist Sharin Foo. "For instance, if you look at our name, The Raveonettes, it's a complete direct reference to The Ronettes and Buddy Holly Rave On!" They’ve even had Ronnie Spector (lead singer of the Ronettes) guest on one of their recent albums.

I first heard their music on WFUV's "World Café" two nights ago and was mesmerized by the song “The Beat Dies” based on Angelo Badalamenti’s theme music for the t.v. mini-series Twin Peaks. For anyone who remembers that show and the music, this song connects straight to the subconscious. (On the radio Foo decribed it as burlesque meets rock and you can hear the bump and grind drum beat at the opening of the song.)

The sound quality is pretty bad on all the video clips available, in fact almost unlistenable, so this is more of a trailer to encourage you to go to iTunes and download the song, although be warned - the sound is somewhat murky on the album too. But I do really like the song and the color and unintentional verité feel of the film. I think the image that illustrates the clip (above) is pretty cool too - and even cooler for being randomly generated by YouTube.

Also below, a short clip of Sune Wagner and Sharin Foo talking about the song.

It belongs to the spanish director Pedro Almodovar and has inspired the movie that has just started to make it.

When he did it in Lanzarote, Canary Islands (Spain), didn't see the couple who was embracing each other. Now he has invented a history of movie for them titled "Los abrazos rotos" ("The broken embraces").

"If only all blogs were as life-affirming and tender-hearted as that of gallerist James Danziger. Whether his focus falls on the work of an individual artist or a particular theme, The Year in Pictures is compulsive reading."